Pearlsong Press books

K.C. Littleton: Violet Crown: A Dr. Hedy Villarreal NovelA forty-something criminal psychologist with the vocabulary and nerd tattoos of a well-education sailor goes into protective custody at a black ops site deep in the Texas Hill Country, and quickly finds out her world is not as she thought it was.

Maria Fama: Other Nations: An Animal JournalPoems taking us into the hearts and souls of animals, who are, as naturalist Henry Beston saw them, "other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."

Lynne Murray: At LargeThe 3rd book in the Josephine Fuller mystery series finds Jo a suspect in the death of the woman who broke up her marriage.

Tracey L. Thompson: FatropolisMost of her life Jenny has felt she's not good enough, not attractive enough, because she's fat. Then one day she stumbles through a portal between a world that values thinness and one that values roundness. Sometimes falling can wake you up.

Leslie Moïse: Love is the Thread: A Knitting FriendshipSustained by the metaphor of knitting, Love is the Thread traces the way one spiritual friendship can change all our relationships. The memoir centers on the friendship between a woman snared in a lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder and another woman reweaving her life after an abusive relationship.

Lynne Murray: The Falstaff Vampire FilesSir John Falstaff is undead & misbehaving in San Francisco. Kris Marlowe doesn't believe in vampires, but when she's attacked by a horde of murderous monsters she must seek help from the most famous rogue in history.

Lynne Murray: Larger Than DeathMeet Josephine Fuller, a sleuth of size who doesn't apologize. Full-figured & full of attitude with abundant sleuthing skills, Jo takes time off from her new job and walks into a murder case. Her best friend and early role model, a plus-sized clothing designer, lies slain in her own apartment. Was she the victim of a serial killer who targets voluptuous women, or is the murder personal? In the first of a series being brought back to print -- & ebook -- Jo copes with her friend's murder, an unexpected romance and bizarre neighbors as she races to find the killer before becoming the next victim.

Lauri J Owen: Blowing EmbersBook 2 of The Embers Series (sequel to Fallen Embers) continues the saga of Kiera, transported to an alternate Alaska in which those who have the power to control the elements -- now including Kiera -- have ruled over those who cannot, including the shapeshifting indigenous peoples. The Fairbanks slaves struggle to maintain their newly won freedom, which is threatened by a force that will also shatter Kiera's heart.

Pat Ballard: Dangerous LoveNew romantic suspense from the Queen of Rubenesque Romances! Ava Manning saw some research she wasn't supposed to, and now someone wants her dead. As if that isn't complicating her life enough, she has to deal with charming LAPD detective Ricky Don McKinzie....

Karen Blomain: The Season of Lost ChildrenIn a small college town in Pennsylvania the lives of a bigamist's wife, a Polish orphan, an ex-priest and his wife -- a former nun -- and a mute teenage runaway intersect.

Charlie Lovett: The Fat Lady SingsYoung Adult fiction. Sassy, irreverent Aggie Stockdale should have gotten the lead in her high school play. But she isn't just a talented actress, writer, and athlete. She's also the fattest girl in the senior class.

Ellen Frankel: Syd ArthurLove, Laughter & Enlightenment! A middle-aged Jewish woman is soon in over her chakras as her spiritual search takes her from yoga studio to meditation hall to ashram gift store to the pages of Zensational catalogue. Her Mah Jongg group insists it's merely a midlife crisis. But nothing's going to stop Syd's journey toward Nirvana -- not even the hottest sale at Nordstrom's.

Lauri J Owen: Fallen EmbersKiera and her nephew are transported to an alternate, feudal Alaska during a strange dog's attack. The icy land is ruled by decadent mages who have enslaved the shapechanging, indigenous peoples. Kiera soon finds herself fighting -- and, to her astonishment, summoning fire. Before she can find her way home she must learn about the local systems of magic and her own powers. Kiera's path leads her deeper into Alaska, to romance, joy and heartbreak. Choosing to follow her heart may cost her everything.

Lynne Murray: Bride of the Living DeadBig, beautiful & rebellious, indie film critic Daria MacClellan is most comfortable in a monster movie poster T-shirt & blue jeans. Yet when family drama hijacks her engagement, she's trapped into a formal wedding with her perfectionist, anorexic sister, Sky, planning the whole thing. Daria adores her fiance, but her wedding seems to be spiraling into a horror film. Will the spectre of a picture perfect wedding turn her into the Bride of the Living Dead?

Rebecca Brock: The Giving SeasonTo have the life she's always dreamed of, Jessy must fight her insecurity and learn how to let Michael -- and his family -- love her just as she is.

Frannie Zellman: FatLandIn the near future the Pro-Health Laws of the United States of America have become so oppressive that people seeking freedom over their bodies have established a new country. In FatLand, life is good and scales are forbidden. Free from the hatred and discrimination of the Other Side, FatLanders have built happy, productive lives. But not everyone is flourishing.

Charlie Lovett: The ProgramA new weight loss clinic in New York City has an offer for you -- given them $5,000 and they'll make you as thin as a supermodel. You can eat whatever you want and never gain an ounce. Tempted? Fledgling journalist Karen Sumner would be -- if only she had $5,000. When Karen finally walks through the blue and gold doors of The Program, however, she's on the trail of the hottest story of her career. If she and her friends are right, The Program is doing something even worse than creating an army of unnaturally thin women. Library Journal calls The Program "a lively first novel. Highly recommended."

Linda C Wisniewski: Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, and Her Polish HeritageEven before she was diagnosed with scoliosis at 13, Linda Wisniewski felt off kilter. Born to a cruel father in the insulated Polish Catholic community of Amsterdam, New York, she learned martyrdom as a way of life. Off Kilter shows her learning to stretch her Self as well as her spine as she comes to terms with her mentally deteriorating, widowed mother and her culture. Only by accepting her physical deformity, her emotionally unavailable mother, and her Polish American heritage does she finally find balance and a life that fits. Maureen Murdock, author of Unreliable Truth: On Memoir & Memory, calls Off Kilter "a courageous, insightful book, particularly relevant for anyone who grew up feeling physically 'different.'"

Pat, Ballard: The Best ManSparks fly the night Lana Clarke meets to plan her sister's wedding -- and not just because curvaceous Lana announces she's stopped dieting and doesn't care if she's fat as maid of honor. The strong-willed sister of the bride attracts the attention of the groom's devastatingly handsome best man, Anthony Angelino. But when the sparks become flames, Lana's in trouble. Tony's first wife died mysteriously. Will Lana be next?

Judy Bagshaw: At Long Last, LoveBig beautiful --and in some cases slightly more mature -- heroines grace the pages of this collection of romantic short stories by Judy Bagshaw.

Jack Adler: Splendid SeniorsAn inspiring ensemble of 52 people whose accomplishments after age 65 remind us that creativity, passion & influence can not only flower in later years, but bear delicious fruit.

Mary Saracino: The Singing of Swans"The Singing of Swans is a remarkable narrative calling--even compelling--us to connect with our own ancestral roots, to seek our own inner wisdom, and to reclaim our own inner voices!" --Margaret Starbird, author of The Woman With the Alabaster Jar & Mary Magdalene: Bride in Exile

Ellen Frankel: Beyond Measure: A Memoir About Short Stature and Inner Growth"If you have ever measured your height or your weight and felt good or bad about yourself as a result, you need this book. In its pages, Ellen Frankel makes an important contribution to human liberation by telling the most fabulous story that can be told, the story of a person coming fully into her own. This book is thought-provoking, heart-rending, and a genuine solace for people of all sizes." --Marilyn Wann, author of FAT!SO?

Pat Ballard: Abigail's RevengeInjustice, romance and suspense smolder in a small Southern town. Romantic suspense from the Queen of Rubenesque Romances, Pat Ballard.

Pattie Thomas, Ph.D.: Taking Up Space"Thomas's incisive blend of sociological inquiry and personal narrative amounts to a provocative treatise on fat oppression in our culture. Taking Up Space is a kind of roadmap through the minefield of the 'war on obesity,' and it offers protection to the reader ready to fight for cultural change surrounding the meaning of fatness." --Kathleen LeBesco, Ph.D., author of Revotling Bodies: The Struggle to Redefine Fat Identity.

Anne Richardson Williams: Unconventional Means: The Dream Down UnderShattered by family tragedy in the early 1960s, an upper-middle-class Southern teenager finds solace in art and literature. Decades later she is called to the continent whose literature once comforted her, and to a magical connection with an Aboriginal woman transcending race and half a world.

Pat Ballard: A Worthy HeirWhen Pam Spencer sees the newspaper ad seeking "a worthy heir" to Fiona Bainbridge's millions, she jumps at the chance to get her brother the medical care he needs after a job-related accident. But Reese Bainbridge, Fiona's handsome grandson--and jilted heir--rushes home in anger when he hears his grandmother has moved Pam and her brother into the family mansion. Sparks fly--and Pam is up to the challenge.

Pat Ballard: His Brother's ChildOne party, one silver-tongued, double-talking stranger intent on winning a bet, and Faith Carr ends up betrayed, alone, and pregnant. When Edward Brenner shows up on her doorstep intending to right his brother's wrongs, she's scared and vulnerable. But she agrees to marry this stranger to give the baby a father, although keeping him at a distance. She doesn't realize that Edward fell in love with her the moment he saw her. Will her battered self-esteem allow her to see the truth--and her own beauty?

Pat Ballard: Wanted: One GroomWealthy Hanna Rockwell will lose her home and her inheritance unless she marries by her 30th birthday. She's stunned when Matt Corbett, the faded rock start she worshipped in her teens, accepts her brother's offer to bail him out of financial trouble if he'll marry her. Her teenaged fantasies come to life--bringing a few surprises with them.

Pat Ballard: Nobody's PerfectNella Covington can't believe she's agreed to marry arrogant Samuel du Cannon, even if it IS only a marriage of convenience. He needs a mother for his young son, and she needs to keep her childhood home. If Sam's work keeps him on the road enough, she won't have to deal with him much. Sam's never been attracted to plus-size women, so they won't be tempted to have a real relationship. At least, that's what they keep telling themselves--

Pearlsong Press books

K.C. Littleton: Violet Crown: A Dr. Hedy Villarreal NovelA forty-something criminal psychologist with the vocabulary and nerd tattoos of a well-education sailor goes into protective custody at a black ops site deep in the Texas Hill Country, and quickly finds out her world is not as she thought it was.

Maria Fama: Other Nations: An Animal JournalPoems taking us into the hearts and souls of animals, who are, as naturalist Henry Beston saw them, "other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."

Lynne Murray: At LargeThe 3rd book in the Josephine Fuller mystery series finds Jo a suspect in the death of the woman who broke up her marriage.

Tracey L. Thompson: FatropolisMost of her life Jenny has felt she's not good enough, not attractive enough, because she's fat. Then one day she stumbles through a portal between a world that values thinness and one that values roundness. Sometimes falling can wake you up.

Leslie Moïse: Love is the Thread: A Knitting FriendshipSustained by the metaphor of knitting, Love is the Thread traces the way one spiritual friendship can change all our relationships. The memoir centers on the friendship between a woman snared in a lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder and another woman reweaving her life after an abusive relationship.

Lynne Murray: The Falstaff Vampire FilesSir John Falstaff is undead & misbehaving in San Francisco. Kris Marlowe doesn't believe in vampires, but when she's attacked by a horde of murderous monsters she must seek help from the most famous rogue in history.

Lynne Murray: Larger Than DeathMeet Josephine Fuller, a sleuth of size who doesn't apologize. Full-figured & full of attitude with abundant sleuthing skills, Jo takes time off from her new job and walks into a murder case. Her best friend and early role model, a plus-sized clothing designer, lies slain in her own apartment. Was she the victim of a serial killer who targets voluptuous women, or is the murder personal? In the first of a series being brought back to print -- & ebook -- Jo copes with her friend's murder, an unexpected romance and bizarre neighbors as she races to find the killer before becoming the next victim.

Lauri J Owen: Blowing EmbersBook 2 of The Embers Series (sequel to Fallen Embers) continues the saga of Kiera, transported to an alternate Alaska in which those who have the power to control the elements -- now including Kiera -- have ruled over those who cannot, including the shapeshifting indigenous peoples. The Fairbanks slaves struggle to maintain their newly won freedom, which is threatened by a force that will also shatter Kiera's heart.

Pat Ballard: Dangerous LoveNew romantic suspense from the Queen of Rubenesque Romances! Ava Manning saw some research she wasn't supposed to, and now someone wants her dead. As if that isn't complicating her life enough, she has to deal with charming LAPD detective Ricky Don McKinzie....

Karen Blomain: The Season of Lost ChildrenIn a small college town in Pennsylvania the lives of a bigamist's wife, a Polish orphan, an ex-priest and his wife -- a former nun -- and a mute teenage runaway intersect.

Charlie Lovett: The Fat Lady SingsYoung Adult fiction. Sassy, irreverent Aggie Stockdale should have gotten the lead in her high school play. But she isn't just a talented actress, writer, and athlete. She's also the fattest girl in the senior class.

Ellen Frankel: Syd ArthurLove, Laughter & Enlightenment! A middle-aged Jewish woman is soon in over her chakras as her spiritual search takes her from yoga studio to meditation hall to ashram gift store to the pages of Zensational catalogue. Her Mah Jongg group insists it's merely a midlife crisis. But nothing's going to stop Syd's journey toward Nirvana -- not even the hottest sale at Nordstrom's.

Lauri J Owen: Fallen EmbersKiera and her nephew are transported to an alternate, feudal Alaska during a strange dog's attack. The icy land is ruled by decadent mages who have enslaved the shapechanging, indigenous peoples. Kiera soon finds herself fighting -- and, to her astonishment, summoning fire. Before she can find her way home she must learn about the local systems of magic and her own powers. Kiera's path leads her deeper into Alaska, to romance, joy and heartbreak. Choosing to follow her heart may cost her everything.

Lynne Murray: Bride of the Living DeadBig, beautiful & rebellious, indie film critic Daria MacClellan is most comfortable in a monster movie poster T-shirt & blue jeans. Yet when family drama hijacks her engagement, she's trapped into a formal wedding with her perfectionist, anorexic sister, Sky, planning the whole thing. Daria adores her fiance, but her wedding seems to be spiraling into a horror film. Will the spectre of a picture perfect wedding turn her into the Bride of the Living Dead?

Rebecca Brock: The Giving SeasonTo have the life she's always dreamed of, Jessy must fight her insecurity and learn how to let Michael -- and his family -- love her just as she is.

Frannie Zellman: FatLandIn the near future the Pro-Health Laws of the United States of America have become so oppressive that people seeking freedom over their bodies have established a new country. In FatLand, life is good and scales are forbidden. Free from the hatred and discrimination of the Other Side, FatLanders have built happy, productive lives. But not everyone is flourishing.

Charlie Lovett: The ProgramA new weight loss clinic in New York City has an offer for you -- given them $5,000 and they'll make you as thin as a supermodel. You can eat whatever you want and never gain an ounce. Tempted? Fledgling journalist Karen Sumner would be -- if only she had $5,000. When Karen finally walks through the blue and gold doors of The Program, however, she's on the trail of the hottest story of her career. If she and her friends are right, The Program is doing something even worse than creating an army of unnaturally thin women. Library Journal calls The Program "a lively first novel. Highly recommended."

Linda C Wisniewski: Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, and Her Polish HeritageEven before she was diagnosed with scoliosis at 13, Linda Wisniewski felt off kilter. Born to a cruel father in the insulated Polish Catholic community of Amsterdam, New York, she learned martyrdom as a way of life. Off Kilter shows her learning to stretch her Self as well as her spine as she comes to terms with her mentally deteriorating, widowed mother and her culture. Only by accepting her physical deformity, her emotionally unavailable mother, and her Polish American heritage does she finally find balance and a life that fits. Maureen Murdock, author of Unreliable Truth: On Memoir & Memory, calls Off Kilter "a courageous, insightful book, particularly relevant for anyone who grew up feeling physically 'different.'"

Pat, Ballard: The Best ManSparks fly the night Lana Clarke meets to plan her sister's wedding -- and not just because curvaceous Lana announces she's stopped dieting and doesn't care if she's fat as maid of honor. The strong-willed sister of the bride attracts the attention of the groom's devastatingly handsome best man, Anthony Angelino. But when the sparks become flames, Lana's in trouble. Tony's first wife died mysteriously. Will Lana be next?

Judy Bagshaw: At Long Last, LoveBig beautiful --and in some cases slightly more mature -- heroines grace the pages of this collection of romantic short stories by Judy Bagshaw.

Jack Adler: Splendid SeniorsAn inspiring ensemble of 52 people whose accomplishments after age 65 remind us that creativity, passion & influence can not only flower in later years, but bear delicious fruit.

Mary Saracino: The Singing of Swans"The Singing of Swans is a remarkable narrative calling--even compelling--us to connect with our own ancestral roots, to seek our own inner wisdom, and to reclaim our own inner voices!" --Margaret Starbird, author of The Woman With the Alabaster Jar & Mary Magdalene: Bride in Exile

Ellen Frankel: Beyond Measure: A Memoir About Short Stature and Inner Growth"If you have ever measured your height or your weight and felt good or bad about yourself as a result, you need this book. In its pages, Ellen Frankel makes an important contribution to human liberation by telling the most fabulous story that can be told, the story of a person coming fully into her own. This book is thought-provoking, heart-rending, and a genuine solace for people of all sizes." --Marilyn Wann, author of FAT!SO?

Pat Ballard: Abigail's RevengeInjustice, romance and suspense smolder in a small Southern town. Romantic suspense from the Queen of Rubenesque Romances, Pat Ballard.

Pattie Thomas, Ph.D.: Taking Up Space"Thomas's incisive blend of sociological inquiry and personal narrative amounts to a provocative treatise on fat oppression in our culture. Taking Up Space is a kind of roadmap through the minefield of the 'war on obesity,' and it offers protection to the reader ready to fight for cultural change surrounding the meaning of fatness." --Kathleen LeBesco, Ph.D., author of Revotling Bodies: The Struggle to Redefine Fat Identity.

Anne Richardson Williams: Unconventional Means: The Dream Down UnderShattered by family tragedy in the early 1960s, an upper-middle-class Southern teenager finds solace in art and literature. Decades later she is called to the continent whose literature once comforted her, and to a magical connection with an Aboriginal woman transcending race and half a world.

Pat Ballard: A Worthy HeirWhen Pam Spencer sees the newspaper ad seeking "a worthy heir" to Fiona Bainbridge's millions, she jumps at the chance to get her brother the medical care he needs after a job-related accident. But Reese Bainbridge, Fiona's handsome grandson--and jilted heir--rushes home in anger when he hears his grandmother has moved Pam and her brother into the family mansion. Sparks fly--and Pam is up to the challenge.

Pat Ballard: His Brother's ChildOne party, one silver-tongued, double-talking stranger intent on winning a bet, and Faith Carr ends up betrayed, alone, and pregnant. When Edward Brenner shows up on her doorstep intending to right his brother's wrongs, she's scared and vulnerable. But she agrees to marry this stranger to give the baby a father, although keeping him at a distance. She doesn't realize that Edward fell in love with her the moment he saw her. Will her battered self-esteem allow her to see the truth--and her own beauty?

Pat Ballard: Wanted: One GroomWealthy Hanna Rockwell will lose her home and her inheritance unless she marries by her 30th birthday. She's stunned when Matt Corbett, the faded rock start she worshipped in her teens, accepts her brother's offer to bail him out of financial trouble if he'll marry her. Her teenaged fantasies come to life--bringing a few surprises with them.

Pat Ballard: Nobody's PerfectNella Covington can't believe she's agreed to marry arrogant Samuel du Cannon, even if it IS only a marriage of convenience. He needs a mother for his young son, and she needs to keep her childhood home. If Sam's work keeps him on the road enough, she won't have to deal with him much. Sam's never been attracted to plus-size women, so they won't be tempted to have a real relationship. At least, that's what they keep telling themselves--

Food for Thought: Pat returned to the studio today after a two-week hiatus. She and Peggy (a.k.a. Dr. Elam) discussed concerns -- and whistleblowing -- about bariatric medicine as described in a July 2010 Reuters article; weight stigma & its effects on health; and The Doughnut Scene in last week's episode of HUGE.

Audio: Listen to and/or download the mp3 recording of the show here. Or click on the Podbean player below. (You can visit the show's Podbean podcasting blog at http://pearlsong.podbean.com.)

Links to Amazon.com listing for books or music are affiliate links. We get a little chunk of change if you click on one of those links and then buy something from Amazon.com.

Food for Thought:Pat's still recovering from the bug she picked up a week and a half ago, soPeggy flew solo (again) today. She discussed

recently published research inNutrition Journalindicating that "dietetic literature on weight management fails to meet the standards of evidence based medicine...It could be said that weight loss enjoys special immunity from accepted standards in clinical practice and publishing ethics."

report of research claiming that the medicalization of "normal" conditions and problems cost the U.S. $77.1 billion in 2005 -- with "obesity" considered one of those "medicalized" conditions.

"The 'epidemics' in psychiatry are caused by changing diagnostic fashions -- the people don't change, the labels do. There are no objective tests in psychiatry -- no X-ray, laboratory, or exam that says definitively that someone does or does not have a mental disorder. What is diagnosed as mental disorder is very sensitive to professional and social contextual forces."

July 19, 2010

Food for Thought: Peggy& Pat discuss recent reports that health care reform will mandate that medical records contain patients' Body Mass Index (BMI) by 2014, and how medical focus on weight & BMI can lead to substandard health care for fat people. Plus, new Australian researchin which fat people were actually asked what they think about "obesity interventions" such as commercial diet programs, bariatric surgery, and public health & media campaigns.

May 11, 2010

"Nothing About Us Without Us," says the Association for Size Diversity & Health in demanding that the voices of fat people and their advocates be heard in the national conversation about "obesity intervention and prevention" policies.

REDWOOD CITY, CA--The voices of fat people and the organizations advocating for their rights and health -- at every size -- must be included in the national conversation about "obesity" intervention or prevention policies, the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) demands.

Programs such as First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign, efforts to establish "National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month" in September, and legislation to establish BMI as a health "vital sign," continue to move forward without any meaningful input from fat children or adults, who must every day confront being marginalized in educational, economic, civil, cultural, political, social, and medical arenas.

"It is imperative that we include fat people in the decisions that directly impact their quality of life and access to essential services," ASDAH President Deb Lemire says. "It is time to replace the medical model of obesity with a human rights model, and ensure that discriminatory social and cultural norms not be institutionalized by law.

"No policies should be decided without the full involvement of members of the groups directly affected by such policies," Lemire adds.

"Have legislators considered asking fat children how they will feel returning to school in September during 'Childhood Obesity Awareness' month?" Lemire asks. "Has the issue of bullying caused by stigmatizing children with larger bodies even been discussed? Recent studies -- to be published in the June 2010 issue of Pediatrics -- document that fat children are not 63% more likely to be subject to bullying because of their body size than are children perceived to be of 'normal' weight.

ASDAH supports Surgeon General Regina Benjamin in her charge to "change the national conversation from a negative one that focuses on disease to a positive conversation about being healthy and fit."

Further, Lemire and the ASDAH leadership ask if policy makers really want to throw money into ineffective weight-focused programs when they could invest in the economically sound and evidence-based programs of Health At Every Size.

ASDAH is an international organization comprised of health professionals, scientists and activists committed to promoting all aspects of health and well being for all populations. Its guiding principles of Health At Every Size recognize and promote the multidimensionality of health, including enjoyable and balanced eating and movement, without a weight-loss focus.

February 08, 2010

Food for Thought: Peggy and Pat return to live broadcasting of the Health At Every Size show with discussion of Peggy's recent surgery and how encounters with weight-focused (and weight-biased) health professionals may delay appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

Their message was well received by
more than 30 U.S.
representatives and senators as well as USDA officials. During
ASDAH’s weekend conference ASDAH researchers Linda Bacon, Ph.D. and Deb
Burgard, Ph.D. also spoke with journalists for CNN and NPR about the current
disturbing trend to blame larger people for the rising costs of health
care.

Bacon expressed concern that
many of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s policies perpetuate discrimination and create barriers to
health care for larger people by focusingon ‘obesity’ rather than directly on health. The
CDC’s William Dietz, M.D. agreed during the NPR interview that it was
“important to focus on health at any weight.”

Newly elected president of ASDAHDeb Lemire
was proud of the inroads made during the July 31-Aug. 3, 2009 conference
weekend, but cautions that “we must be vigilant in followup with our
leaders. Many were simply not aware of the discrimination and lack of comprehensive
health policies for people of all sizes, large and small.”

The
August 3rd legislative visits were part of an ASDAH weekend
conference that included guest speaker Susie Orbach, UK psychotherapist, scholar and
author of the 2009 book Bodiesas
well as Fat Is A Feminist Issue. Orbach
proved to be a powerful ally in ASDAH’s work to embrace all body sizes and
shapes, emphasizing the importance of language used to discuss health and
acknowledging weightdiscrimination as both a
personal and a civil rights issue.

ASDAH is an international organization
composed of health professionals, scientists and activists committed to
promoting all aspects of health and well-being for people of all sizes. ASDAH
promotes the weight-neutral movement known as Health At Every Size, which calls
for size acceptance, an end to weight discrimination, and lessening of the
cultural obsession with weight loss and thinness. For more information or to
join, visit their website atwww.sizediversityandhealth.org.

Food for Thought: Critique of recent fat-bashing in the news, including reactions to President Obama's Surgeon General pick Regina Benjamin, M.D., the CDC's Leanworks website and "obesity cost calculator," and recently reported estimates of the effect of "obesity" on health care costs.

June 09, 2009

British author Susie Orbach to speak at D.C. area health conferenceFat Is A Feminist Issue author will discuss & sign new bookBodiesEvening event also features "Discover Your Healthy Weight" DVD screening

Orbach,
most famous for her 1978 book Fat Is a Feminist Issue, will discuss and sign her newest book, Bodies, published earlier this year. The evening event is open to
the public, with eating disorders and health professionals especially
encouraged to attend.

Bodies brings into sharp relief the startling trend of seeing our bodies as a
site of production, something to “work on” rather than something that “works
for” us. In the past several decades a globalized media has
overwhelmed us with images of an idealized, westernized body and conditioned us
to see any exception to that ideal as a problem. Orbach reveals the true
dimensions of the crisis, and points the way toward healing and acceptance.

Orbach
is an author, analyst and activist, co-founder of The Women’s Therapy Center
in Londonand New York, and co-convener of the website
www.any-body.org.

Conversations with Susie Orbach will be
held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 1, 2009 at the Dulles Airport
Marriott Hotel, 45020 Aviation
Drive, Dulles, VA 20166. Tickets are $35. Hors d’oeuvres will be served and books will be available for purchase and
signing. Pre-registration is required by July 24.

July 23, 2008

University of the Sunshine Coast professor Lily O'Hara, a lecturer in public health, has a great article online critiquing recent claims that Australia has bypassed America to become "the fattest country in the world."

Statistics from the World Health Organisation demonstrate that this is far from true, with Australian coming in at number 35 on the list of fattest countries, but why let the facts get in the way of a good story?

O'Hara also critiques the Weight-Centered Health Paradigm, in which

fat bodies are not only regarded as undesirable to look at; they are labeled as medically compromised or diseased. Weight is now presented to the public as an independent cause of disease and death, and terms such as "epidemic" and "obesity," once the sole domain of public health and medical discourse, are now in common every day use in the community....

The problem with being so focused on weight in relation to health is that it has done nothing to address the rise in average body weight in the past twenty years or so....The narrowly defined ideal that we are all aiming for is also causing serious harm to people who don't fit in. The reality is that a lot of these fat people are healthy and are making themselves sicker trying to conform to some slender stereotype. It is estimated that 95% if diets fail, and people actually end up putting on more weight after the diet is broken.

Then there are the bigger social harms that have resulted from this narrowly defined ideal -- the rapid escalation in size-based prejudice, harassment and discrimination.

O'Hara goes on to present the Health At Every Size (HAES) paradigm as a move away from the weight-centered paradigm.

Developed in the United States and increasingly embraced by the fat acceptance movement, HAES argues that a person's ideal weight cannot be measured by the scales or mathematical equations such as body mass index. It teaches that we should respect and appreciate the rich diversities of body shapes and sizes.

It also encourages people to eat for pleasure and nourishment, and rejects dieting or any other weight loss strategy. People are encouraged to engage in physical activity that is joyful and fun, rather than some specific, regimented routine with the sole purpose of losing weight.

HAES is known as "the new peace movement" because it helps people "make peace with their bodies."

Here in Australia we need to realize there are different ways to look at the body and health. People have been battered and bruised by our obsession with avoiding fatness. They are struggling with their bodies and the weight-based messages about what is good and bad, right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable

Being fat does not necessarily mean that you are bad or unacceptable or unhealthy, and this is a lesson that everyone in society needs to learn.